


Migraines

by giantpanda



Category: The Good Doctor (TV 2017)
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Headaches & Migraines
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:15:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26010982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/giantpanda/pseuds/giantpanda
Summary: Claire tries to hide the fact that she has a migraine at work, but Neil notices.
Relationships: Claire Browne/Neil Melendez
Comments: 16
Kudos: 69





	Migraines

Claire groaned as her alarm when off. She had gone to bed early the night before hoping the extra sleep would prevent the migraine she felt coming on. As she reached out to shut off the alarm, she knew it hadn’t worked. Once the beeping stopped, she closed her eyes hoping she could will the pain away. She focused on where the pain was located and tried to predict just how bad it would be at work.

She had been getting migraines for as long as she could remember. She had learned early on how to work through the pain because there was never any other choice. She always had other responsibilities that took precedence over her pain. She had her mother relying on her, school, jobs, medical school and her residency. None of those left time for something as inconvenient as a headache. She had gotten good at hiding them from people. Kayla of course had known about them and had tried to get her take time off when they were really bad. However, she never did.

She had pushed through them many times at the hospital, thankful that no one seemed to pay attention to notice. However, those days were the worst because it took every ounce of strength to pretend that everything was normal. Not only would she be dealing with the throbbing or stabbing pain and nausea, but she also had to pretend she had neither. She thought sometimes that Shaun may have figured it out, but he never mentioned it. She had been lucky lately that the migraines hit her towards the end of her shift or on her days off. The lingering affects of her migraines where unpleasant but easier to manage at work.

As she sat up a wave of nausea went through her. She picked up her phone tempted to call out. She went through this every time she had a migraine, thinking that this was the time she would take the time to take care of herself instead of pushing through. Her finger lingered over Neil’s name, she knew he would agree to her taking the day off. With a sigh, she put her phone down. Calling him felt too much like taking advantage of their friendship.

Things between them had grown the past few months. What started as runs, morphed into dinners, bowling, movie nights. The others at the hospital knew about their friendship outside of work, and both had made sure to be careful so that there were no more favoritism complaints. The only problem now was that she didn’t want them to just be friends anymore. As she told her therapist a few weeks ago, she had fallen in love with him. She thought Claire should talk to Neil about her feelings and even seemed to think that they might be reciprocated. Claire disagreed. There was no way that Neil felt anything for her other than friendship. And she had no plans at all to ruin the best relationship she ever had.

She tried ignoring the stabbing pain in the side of her head and the growing nausea. She took a few deep breaths and then stood. She swayed slightly and glanced down at her phone. Even though it rarely helped she took some medicine and took a shower. She hoped that this time the migraine would pass quickly, but as always it seemed to get stronger as she got ready for work. She skipped her usual coffee and threw a granola bar in her bag hoping she could eat it later. She got into the car, turned the music off and drove to work. She allowed herself the drive to feel miserable. As soon as she entered the hospital, she would have to push all the pain away and do her job.

She moved slowly as she placed her things in her locker and made her way to start rounds with the others. The bright lights of the hospital made the pounding worse, but she told herself she would be fine. She reminded herself that it was nothing new and she had dealt with it for years. She listened as they went through rounds, talking only when she absolutely had too. As they discussed a patient who had been admitted from the previous shift, Claire volunteered to look through the scans and tests results that had been taken last night to start working on a diagnosis. While the thought of reading made her stomach flop, at least she wouldn’t have to be around the others pretending to be okay. She made her way to the lounge and dimmed the lights. She took a few minutes to massage her head and neck, hoping the pain would lessen. It was one of the more painful ones where it felt like someone was stabbing her head while it was in a vice. The words blurred together, but she kept fighting through. She thought of getting something to drink but wasn’t sure she could keep it down.

As she continued looking at the scans, she was glad the others hadn’t joined her yet. She was enjoying the quiet and the fact that she didn’t have to pretend for a while. She was hoping that it would be an easy day overall and was counting down until she would be able to go home. She was off the next day and knew she’d be able to sleep in and recover from her migraine. 

She startled when the door opened, and her peace was disturbed. She looked up to see Neil. Despite her pain, she felt the usual happiness at being with him.

“Any luck?”

“Not yet,” she answered. “I’m still looking.”

“Are you okay?” he asked moving closer.

“I’m fine,” she lied. “Why?”

“You’re not usually the first to volunteer to look at the test results, and you were pretty quiet during rounds.”

She looked down at the papers in front of her. She wasn’t used to someone noticing when something was wrong. She shouldn’t have been surprised that he did. She glanced back up at him and could see the concern clearly on his face.

Sighing, she said, “It’s just a headache, I’m fine.”

Frowning, he came to stand next to her. “Any other symptoms?”

She fought back a smile. It was sweet that he worried about her, and she wouldn’t be surprised if he was already thinking about possible tests to run.

“Just the headache and nausea,” she admitted. “I’ve been getting migraines since I was a young, I really am okay.”

“You’ve never told me that before,” he said softy.

She thought he almost seemed hurt, like she had been keeping a secret from him. That had never been her intention, she was just used to dealing with it herself.

“I’m used to it. Don’t worry I’ll still be able to help with the diagnosis.”

“I’m not worried about that,” he sighed. “What would you be doing if you were home?”

She looked up at him in alarm.

“I’m not sending you home.”

Relieved, she answered, “I’d be in a dark room with some ice trying to get some sleep.”

“Okay,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”

She watched as he left and then went back to looking at the scans. She felt like she needed to find something before he came back. She continued writing down some notes on her notepad. She didn’t want him to think that she couldn’t do her job. Not that she really thought Neil would doubt her.

She looked up as he came back him a few minutes later with an ice pack in his hand.

“I know I won’t be able to convince you to go home, but you can take a break. Go find an on-call room and rest.”

“I need to go through all these test results.”

He picked up her notepad where she had started writing down some ideas. “I’ll keep looking, you go rest.”

The pain had increased from reading through everything, and the thought of lying down for a while was enticing.

Sighing, she took the ice pack from him. “Ten minutes.”

“An hour.”

“Thank you,” she said, having no intention of staying away that long.

“I hope it helps.”

She left the lounge and found an empty on-call room. She set the alarm on her phone for twenty minutes. She laid down and placed the ice against her head. She focused on her breathing as she tried to ignore the nausea. She thought about Neil and the worry she had seen on his face. Trying to distract herself, she drifted off into a daydream about the future she wished they could have.

Her alarm interrupted her thoughts and she groaned. She slowly sat up still feeling dizzy and nauseous. She appreciated the short break but was ready to return to work. She headed back to the lounge, with Neil still looking through the results and adding to her notes. He looked up as she walked in.

“That wasn’t an hour.”

“I feel better.”

“Claire...”

“It helped.”

He sighed as she sat down beside him and took back the notepad. She could see that he wanted to say something else, but instead began discussing his findings about the patient. Neither felt that the patient needed surgery. They decided to try some medications and then rerun the tests. Claire went to see the patient and start their plan. She then went to the ER to finish her shift. The ER was her least favorite place to be with a headache, but she was grateful that it was a slow day, and the rest of the day went by fast.

Claire grabbed her things from her locker and headed towards her car. She wasn’t looking forward to the drive home, but she was looking forward to climbing into bed. While there had been moments when she thought she was beginning to feel better, her migraine was back in full force.

“Claire,” Neil called.

Normally she wouldn’t mind waiting for him, but she just wanted to get home, and she was exhausted from pretending that her headache wasn’t as bad as it actually was. With a sigh she stopped walking and waited for him to catch up.

“Let me drive you home,” he said as they started walking towards the cars.

“That’s not necessary,” she argued. “I told you I’m fine.”

He placed his hand against her arm. “You’re exhausted and you’re in pain, let me take you home.”

She looked into his eyes and she could see his concern. Giving him a small smile, she nodded. They were both off the next day, but she figured she’d be able to uber to work to get her car when she was back on shift. She followed him to his car and rolled her eyes as he opened the door for her. She settled into the seat as he got into the driver’s side. He immediately turned the music down and stayed quiet as they drove. She leaned back and closed her eyes, trying to ignore the way the motion of the car made the nausea worse.

She had just started to drift off when they pulled up in front of her apartment. She turned to thank him for the ride but was surprised that he had already gotten out of the car. He opened the door for her and waited until she got out.

“Thank you,” she said softly.

“You’re welcome.”

He took her bag from her and followed her up to her apartment. He had been to her place plenty of times when they would have dinner together or watch a movie. She hadn’t expected him to come in, when she had planned to just go to sleep.

She could feel his eyes on her as she unlocked the door and they both went in. She was tempted to tell him that he didn’t have to stay but he placed her bag on the sofa and left his shoes by the door next to hers. 

“Can I make you something to eat?” he asked.

She made a face, food was the last thing she wanted. “No thanks. I think I’m just going to go to bed.”

He nodded. “I’ll make you some tea.”

“You don’t have to.”

He closed the distance between them so that he was standing right in front of her.

“Where’s it hurt?”

Without breaking eye contact, she pointed to the spot where the stabbing pain was the worst. He started to reach out to touch that spot but hesitated.

“Is this okay?” he asked, his hand hovering above her head.

She nodded and he started to massage the area. She closed her eyes as he put more pressure against the area that hurt. She allowed herself to get lost in his touch, and briefly thought about what other things he might be good at doing with his hands.

“When was the last time you had someone take care of you?”

The last time had been him when he had found her in the stairway. In fact, he was always the one who was there when she needed someone.

“Let me take care of you, Claire.”

“I can’t ask that of you,” she said softly.

“You’re not asking, I’m offering.”

“Okay,” she said giving in.

He continued to massage her temple for a few more minutes before telling her to get ready for bed while he made her some tea. She took a quick shower and put on her pajamas before joining Neil in the kitchen, she sat down at the table where he had placed the tea.

“Thanks,” she said taking a sip.

“Are you sure you don’t want something to eat?”

She shook her head. She knew she wouldn’t be able to keep it down. He was lucky that she was able to drink the tea. She could tell that he was unhappy that she wasn’t eating, but she knew she’d feel better in the morning and eat something then. After she finished the tea, she told him that she needed to go to bed. He stood and went over to her freezer to grab some ice. He followed her into her bedroom. Neither said anything as she climbed into bed and he handed her the ice pack. 

“Call me if you need anything,” he said softly.

“Thanks,” she said.

She watched as he turned to leave.

“Neil,” she called.

He stopped and turned. 

She thought of asking him to stay, but worried that would be crossing too many lines. Instead, she asked, “Could you close the curtains?”

“Of course.”

She watched as he pulled them closed and then left the room. She quickly drifted off to sleep the exhaustion of the migraine and pretending to be okay finally catching up to her.

When Claire woke up in the morning, she was relieved that the stabbing pain from the day before was gone and was now just a dull ache. She felt like she could sleep for a few more hours, but now that the nausea was gone, she was feeling hungry. She thought of texting Neil to tell him that she was feeling better but decided to wait until after eating some breakfast.

As she walked out of her room, she glanced over into the living room and froze. Neil was asleep on her sofa. She looked over and noticed that he had his overnight bag that he kept in the car sitting on the coffee table. She took a few steps towards him. He had the blanket she left across the back of the sofa draped across him. She couldn’t believe that he had stayed. She felt her eyes fill with tears.

She thought of all the times she had suffered on her own. The times her mother had left her to deal with it all by herself. She thought about how Neil was always there to support her, either at work or outside of it. She had come to terms with the fact she had fallen in love with him, but for the first time she wondered if maybe he felt the same way about her that she did him. She turned towards the coffee maker and busied herself with making coffee.

She heard him get up from the sofa and walk into the kitchen. She continued making them both coffees. She needed to make sure he couldn’t tell that she had been overwhelmed by the fact that he stayed.

“Good morning,” he said as he moved to stand beside her.

She handed him a cup coffee. “Good morning. I didn’t realize you planned on staying. I know that sofa isn’t that great for sleeping.”

“I wanted to be close by in case you needed anything,” he said, looking at her closely. “How are you feeling?”

“Better.”

He frowned. “Really?”

“It’s more of a dull ache now instead of the stabbing pain of yesterday, so much better.”

“Why haven’t you ever told me about this before?”

She took a sip of her coffee to gather her thoughts. “I wasn’t trying to hide anything from you,” she started. “I’ve been dealing with them for so long, I’ve just gotten used to not talking about it.” She hesitated before continuing, “Once residency started, it seemed more like a weakness, that I could miss out on surgeries because of it, and I wouldn’t want you to think less of me.”

“You know I think you’re a brilliant surgeon, nothing would never change that. I’d never think less of you.”

They were standing closer together, and as she thought about how he had taken care of her and her feelings for him, she wondered if she would ruin everything by kissing him.

“You might change your mind,” she said, placing her cup on the counter. “I’m going to do something potentially stupid.”

“I doubt that.”

She stepped closer and pressed her lips against his. She had taken him by surprise. He reached out to put his cup down before he wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her closer to him. She brought her arms around his neck, allowing her fingers to thread through his hair. They broke apart to catch their breath but didn’t move from the others embrace.

Resting his head against hers, he said, “I thought you said you were going to do something stupid.”

“Kissing my boss didn’t seem like my best idea.”

“We both know I’m not just your boss.” He leaned forward and kissed her again. “I can’t tell you how long I’ve wanted to do that.”

“Me too.”

Eventually, he stepped away from her, keeping his hands resting against her waist. “You need to eat something.”

“What would you like?” she asked.

He pressed a kiss against her forehead. “I’m making it, you go sit down.”

She moved to sit down at the table and watched him as he made them eggs and toast. He had been in her apartment enough before when they had gotten together for dinner or a movie that he knew where everything was. But this felt different. Maybe it was the fact that she had finally kissed him, or that he was taking care of her once again.

She smiled at him as he placed a plate in front of her. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

They ate their breakfast stealing glances at the other and being unable to stop smiling.

“I’m really glad you did something stupid,” he said with a grin. “I wanted to talk to you this morning but wasn’t sure how. You took care of that.”

Curious, she asked, “What were you going to say?”

“It’s been getting harder to pretend,” he said, “I don’t want us to just be friends. I haven’t wanted that for a while. I realized last night, how much I didn’t want to leave here, especially with you not feeling well.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“I know that,” he reached across the table and took her hand. “But you don’t have to all the time. I want to be the one whose there for you.”

“You already are,” she said squeezing his hand. “You’re my best friend, but I agree, I don’t want you to just be my friend anymore either.”

He sighed in relief. “I’m glad.”

“I mean technically, we’ve been dating for weeks or months really.”

There was so much more they needed to talk about, what this change in their relationship would mean for work, but the lingering exhaustion from the day before caused Claire to yawn.

“Are you okay?”

“Still a little tired,” she answered honestly.

“Why don’t you go back to bed? I’ll clean up.”

She bit her lip. “Or you can come with me. I’m sure you didn’t sleep well on the sofa.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

They cleaned up from breakfast and went into her bedroom. They both climbed into the bed and Neil pulled her to him once they got settled. She closed her eyes as she rested her head against his chest. She felt safe in his arms. He started to gently caress her arm, lulling her to sleep. As she drifted off, she swore she heard him whisper that he loved her. 

**Author's Note:**

> This story evolved from the migraine that I had the other day, the symptoms I gave Claire are the ones that I deal with. Thank you so much for reading!! I hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
